Padraig Harrington, the reigning Open champion, will tee off with Justin Leonard, the 1997 winner, and Retief Goosen on Thursday as he prepares to defend his title at Birkdale. The Dubliner, conqueror of Sergio Garcia in a play-off at Carnoustie last year, starts at 7.58am.

Justin Rose begins even earlier than that on his return to the course where, as a 17-year-old amateur, he finished a spectacular fourth ten years ago. His tee-off time is 7.36am and he plays with five-time champion Tom Watson, winner at Birkdale in 1983, and Australia's Aaron Baddeley.

Paul Casey will play with Phil Mickelson in the opening two rounds. Four years ago at Royal Troon the pair were also drawn together and Casey shot a five-under par 66 to be the joint first-round leader. However, the Englishman managed only 77 the following day and finished joint 20th.

Mickelson came back from his opening 73 to miss the play-off between Todd Hamilton and Ernie Els by one shot - easily his best Open performance. They will tee off at 9.20am, with Japan's Hideto Tanihara as the third member of the group.

Garcia and Ernie Els are the two favourites in the absence of the injured Tiger Woods and they are at opposite ends of the draw. Els is another early starter, going out at 8.31am with Scott Verplank, of the United States, and rising German star Martin Kaymer.

Garcia has to wait until 2.31pm to begin his bid. The Spaniard, runner-up in the European Open two weeks ago, has Japan's Ryuji Imada and Sean O'Hair, of the United States, for company.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, winner of the Scottish Open yesterday, partners 2004 winner Hamilton and South Africa's Rory Sabbatini at 12.36pm, while Colin Montgomerie plays with Mike Weir, of Canada, and Boo Weekley at 9.31am.

Lee Westwood is just over half an hour earlier than that alongside Ben Curtis, the 2003 champion, and South Korea's KJ Choi.

The distinction of hitting the first shot - at 6.30am - falls to the Australian Craig Parry, while the last group of English qualifiers Jonathan Lomas and Peter Appleyard and Japan's Yoshinobu Tsukada are not teeing off until 4.21pm and might struggle to finish before darkness if play is slow.